Lexington Scrabble® Club 2003-2004 Season

This reports on the season which ran from September, 2003 through August, 2004.

The Lexington, Massachusetts Scrabble Club #108 has been running
continuously since it was started by Edie Berman and Muriel Sands in
January, 1980. We meet nearly every Thursday night of the year in a
comfy basement meeting room of the First Parish Church, situated on
Lexington Green behind the Lexington Minuteman Statue. Judy Horn has
been directing this club for about 21 years. Ellen Miller serves as
associate director. Mike Wolfberg joined the club within its first
month of existence, and he took on the role of club statistician within
the first year. The club has operated with its own rating system,
designed primarily by Alan Frank, since early 1981. Ratings are based
on the percentage of points each of the players scores in each game.
The club web site includes a detailed description of this system.

This is a report of the highlights of this club's Sep-03 through Aug-04
season. In this season, individuals played 6416 games, and so there were
3208 games in all. The average score in all of these games was 375.
These numbers were 5184, 2592, and 372 for the previous season.

Of the 6416 individual games, 6060 were played by an "active player".
We define an active player as someone who played at least 20 games in
the season. The average score of the active players was 375 for the
season. These numbers were 4880 and 372 for the previous season.

158 different players have attended the club in the past 2 years.
During the 2003-2004 season there were
60 active players, namely those who played at least 20 games, and here are
the top 25, ordered by decreasing club average rating:

Average attendance thoughout the season was 29, and with 49 sessions,
this yields the statistic that each player plays on the average of 4 1/2
games per session. We realize this is higher than in many other clubs, and
so some of this club's achievements in one season should be understood
in this context.

Most Games

With 351 games, Jamie Ryan broke the record for the most games, since it was
set at 315 by Muriel Sands in 1994-1995 season.
Jamie averaged playing about 8 games per session.

Most Wins

With 204 wins, Jamie Ryan broke the record for the most wins, since it was
set at 175 by Steve Root in the 1991-1992 season.

Most Points

With 135,187 points,
Jamie Ryan broke the record for the most points scored
in season, since it was set at
111,252 by Forrestt Tellis in the 1991-1992 season.

Highest percentage above average

Ben Harrison achieved the runner-up
record for this category when he
scored 696. His percentage above average was 79.8%.
We have tracked this statistic only since the 1997-1998 season, and the
club record has been 80.6%.

Many Bingos by One Player

These players played 5 bingos in one game on various sessions
throughout the season: Judy Horn, Joel Horn, Richard Buck.
The club record is 6 bingos.

High Losing Scores and High Total Scores

High loss for the season was a 462
by Mike Wolfberg to Steven Saul's 472.
The club record is 486.

The third-highest total ever seen in this club was
998 in a game on 22-Jan-04,
in which Dean Cullen defeated Gregg Foster 587-411.
The club record is 1062.

High Tie

The highest tie of the season was 451-451 by
Barbara Revkin and Joel Horn.
The club record is 462-462.

High Bingo

John Van Pelt scored 212 points for QUEERISH.
Mark Fidler scored 161 for HORSEMEN.
The club record is 293 points.

High Non-bingo

No special record was remembered in this category during the season.
The club record is 109.

Consecutive Bingos

Jere Mead came close to matching the club record of 4
consectutive
bingos by one player. After Jere bingoed 3 times, he then scored 72 by
using 6 letters to form an 8-letter double-double through split letters.

Many Games in The 500's

The club record of 10 games in the 500's was set when
there were 27 players in attendance during the previous season of the club.
On 26-Feb-04, this record was matched with a much higher attendace of
36 players; however, one of the games in that session was exactly 500, which
is technically not "over 500". Here are the ten players who scored
at least 500:
John Van Pelt (638), Gina Fassio (562), Joel Horn (537),
Ellen Miller (525), Latty Katz (523), Jamie Ryan (513),
Marshall Finn (510), Nick Amphlett (508), Judy Horn (504),
Mike Wolfberg (500).

High Session Attendance

On 11-Mar-04 there were a record-breaking 44 players,
including 3 new ones. Thre were 43 in attendance at another session.
Prior to this season, the record was 37.
The average attendance during the season was 29, up 3 from the previous
season.

Unusual Drawings to Go First

There was one session in which there were 2 games in which an A and blank
were picked to see who went first.

There was a session in which Chris Mather was involved with two
interesting pickings to go first:

Chris picked an A, then Richard Buck picked a blank.

Chris picked an A, and then Mike Wolfberg picked a Z.

This Club at NSC2004

Twenty-six of our regular club players attended the North American
Scrabble® Championship tournament in New Orleans, LA July 31 - August 6, 2004.
This page details how the club fared.

Further details for many of the club records mentioned above can be
found on this club's statistics page.